LOCK HAVEN, Pa. —Tamara Jennings made history this week as the first Kutztown University softball student-athlete to be named a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Spring Top 10 Award winner.

Jennings, who graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in computer science in May, turned in the best season of her career in helping lead the Golden Bears to 36 victories and a spot in the PSAC Championship tournament.

The Philadelphian compiled a .416 batting average with 72 hits, 50 runs scored, 13 doubles, three triples, seven home runs, 51 runs batted and 14 stolen bases in across 56 games, setting career-highs in every category. Jennings also had a .458 on base percentage, .647 slugging percentage and .981 fielding percentage.

Jennings led the PSAC with eight sacrifice flies, while ranking third in RBIs, fourth in runs scored and fourth in hits. She was also amongst the conference leaders in batting average (ninth), slugging percentage (ninth), stolen bases (ninth) and at-bats (10th, 173).

The outfielder’s combination of on-field and classroom performance led to spots on the Google Cloud Academic All-District First Team and Academic All-America Third Team. Jennings and teammate Sara Keeny were the softball program’s first Academic All-Americans.

Jennings received the Kutztown University Honors Program Award and Computer Science/Technology Award in 2019. She will be named a PSAC Scholar-Athlete for the fourth time and NFCA Scholar-Athlete for the third time later this summer.

Jennings, a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), will begin work towards her Master of Science at Kutztown this fall. She is enrolled in the five-year computer science/information technology combined M.S./B.S. program.

Tuesday’s announcement gives Kutztown a female Top 10 recipient for the second year in a row. Jennings is KU’s eighth female Spring Top 10 winner and 21st female Top 10 honoree since the awards were initiated during the 1997-98 academic year.

The Top 10 Awards, selected by the PSAC’s sports information directors, recognize student-athletes who distinguish themselves in the classroom, as well as in the arena of competition. The conference designates Top 10 Award winners after each of the sports seasons: fall, winter and spring.

To be a candidate for the Top 10 Awards, a student-athlete must have achieved a minimum of a 3.50 cumulative grade point average and must be a starter or key reserve with legitimate athletic credentials.